Another day...another Pinterest project (or two).

I swear, I just can't get enough of Pinterest. If I'm being honest I think it's maybe even more addictive than Facebook. Well, okay...maybe not "quite" as addicting. But at least my house and family are benefiting from my Pinterest addiction!

Today was another day of organizing...and crafting. Now, I must admit that I'm pretty good when it comes to organizing but crafting isn't quite my "thing." I try but I'm just not quite as talented as some of my "crafty" friends!

Here are my accomplishments for today:

I cleaned out my refrigerator and freezer! YEAH! I dumped some food (not much, thankfully), I cleaned the entire inside of the fridge and I organized it. Now I have this:

I bought these amazing little baskets at Big Lots for $2.50 each. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them! Now my cheese (and cheese-like products) are in one, my partially-used veggies in another one, and yogurt in a third. I also have a smaller basket on the top with lunch meat and the purple one with drinks. I think I need to go back to buy at least one more (to replace the purple one and to look more organized). I love the handle on them. Makes it perfect for my kids to grab and figure out what they want rather than having to dig through the fridge for something. And I can now visually see when I'm running low on these products and know when I need to purchase more! Just love it!

The next two pictures are my freezer - before and after. This could still use a little more work and I'm not sure how this particular box will hold up in my freezer so I'll probably buy a different box (maybe two). The current freezer box holds all opened freezer products only. I'd like to separate my frozen fruits & veggies, though. But, I can also do that in my (currently almost empty) full-size freezer.

Another organizing project today included cleaning under my kitchen sink. The photos are boring but suffice it to say that is now clean, too! Now for my big pain - the rubbermaid/tupperwear storage! Ugh! This cabinet is always a mess...ALWAYS...and when my son puts the clean dishes away he doesn't really go into it with the same organizing eye that I have. Well, guess who was the last one to empty the dishwasher??? Does this picture give you a clue:

I mean, stuff is ALWAYS falling out of this cabinet. So, I decided a few things about this space. 1) If the bowl didn't have a matching lid it was gone. 2) Nothing was going to be stored in this space that didn't need to be there. 3) Things I rarely use will go on the top and the others will go near the front. 4) Lids will have their own place if I have to die trying!

Here's what I ended with:

Okay, so now on to the craft stuff...

I currently don't have any photos of the crafty stuff I worked on in the past few days but as soon as I do I'll post them. I've got a really good idea for an "Art Wall" that I'm working on (for my 6 year old's art work...and my 13 yr old...if he desires). It's partially done but I'm not super thrilled with it so I'm going to think through it a little more. I also bought some scrapbooking paper today (I've never EVER scrapbooked) to make some great wall decorations.

Lastly, I've started pulling out my 13 year old's art work from when he was a kid. I'm going to take pictures of the art work and put it in a photo album. It's a great way to always have the pictures without them taking up all the space. I can't wait for that one! I'm also going to do this with all my old stuff my mom has kept for me over the years. What a great way to save memories!

Happy pinning... :)

Pinterest - You're killing me...in a good way!

After I wrote my blog post yesterday I ended up staying up close to midnight (SO UNLIKE ME!) doing more organizing projects. See, for several years I have had too much on my plate and would just throw things behind closed doors so I "looked" clean but the reality is that I wasn't clean. Oh, I would try from time to time but the daily grind would keep me from doing what I really wanted to do. So, here I am - sharing my "DIRT" for the world to see - literally!

Between blog entry and bedtime here is what I did:

I would like to see a little more organization in both places but I'll take this for now!

After my "day after Christmas shopping" I came home, relaxed for a bit, and then started on more organizing projects. The biggest project being my closet. Here is what I put aside to donate to Goodwill from my closet:

Goodwill is going to be happy to see me tomorrow!

Here is what I did to my closet, though:

You can't see it in the pictures but there is a space to the right of the closet that was FULL. Now I just have my triathlon transition bag and my duffel bag ready to grab at any moment and head to the gym. I even had enough space left over on the top that I was able to put two blankets, my foam roller and "the stick" (my triathlon "therapy" products - not pictured). I must say that I really need to learn how to do some kind of sewing (I used to know how to back in college) because I'd like to take some of those two full shelves of race T-shirts and make a quilt or scarf out of them (another wonderful Pinterest idea!). And this is after letting go of about 5-10 race shirts today!

Now for the big SHOCKER!!! After I took this picture I realized just how messy my "under the sink" cabinet was! I felt like someone should have put me on the show "Hoarders!" It never seemed that messy to me but because I have an abundance of toilet paper right now it looks like this stuff was just all thrown in there in a big hoarded mess! And, to some extent I guess it was. Anyway, I'm proud to say that I have a re-purposed box under my sink to hold my tea light candles, I have an organized first aid kit (which is now in need of Band-aids because apparently the boxes in the cabinet were fully used!) Get ready for the shocker because here it is.....

So there you have it. I'm all "naked" in front of you with my dirty/messy/hoarded house! Now if I can just get everyone around here to help keep it put together like the "after" shots then I'd be doing good!

Pinterest - I'm hooked!

It was just brought to my attention that I've been missing out on a lot in life. Namely, Pinterest.

It's only been a few days and I've already started a couple of DIY projects. Since today was Christmas and my extended family is far away we were pretty much done with the "celebrations" by lunchtime. So, this has given me the chance to dive right into some of these projects I've been thinking about for days!


Problem one: my 6 year old daughter's wide array of hair "things." I don't think over the span of my entire life I've had as many hair "things" as my daughter does right now. Hair pins/barrettes, hair bows, pony tail holders, headbands. You name it - she has it. I've "tried" to keep it organized but I find her organization skills aren't exactly like mine. So, today we resolved this problem (at least partially).


Here is the "bow frame" we made:

If I had to do it all over again (and I'm sure I will in the future when this one tears apart) then I would put a solid-color background. The polka-dots make it look too busy. I think the hair pins alone take care of that!


Once I had her pins all in one place we worked on the ribbons. Earlier in the day I had found a solution for all scarfs on earth (and apparently it works well with tights). Well, guess what - it works for ribbons, too! So, along with all the scarfs in our house, hair ribbons are currently being organized like this:

It will really be helpful for me and my own scarf collection since I can never seem to find the one I want when I want it!


The headbands are still an issue for me. So, for now, they are all in a box on the top shelf in my bathroom. You can see the box on the top left-hand side of the "after" shot below.

Problem 2: My bathroom shelf...not the most impressive place in the house. I try to keep people on the main floor of my house because it seems everywhere else is total ciaos!  So, in the coming year I plan to do a lot of organizing and re-purposing items to create something new. There is really no need to go buy a bunch of expensive new stuff when I can create my own version of new!

Problem 3: The makeup bags were everywhere: two in the top basket filled with makeup, the blue bag on the middle shelf and the ziplock bag above the brown bag in the middle shelf. Now our makeup is nicely organized inside the baskets and I was able to move all the nail polish out of my medicine cabinet and into the brown basket on the second shelf. I'm not a big makeup wearer so there isn't a lot we have to worry about in that regard but here is what the baskets look like on the inside now:

Problem 4: The hallway closet. It is such a tiny, tiny closet and we have three people with big, big feet who have a lot of shoes! Of course, my 6 year old probably has more shoes than any of us but I make her keep some of her summer shoes in her room. In all fairness, I have a whole shoe rack in my bedroom, too.

Anyway, suffice it to say we have a lot of shoes and a lot of coats and they all have to fit in the tiniest closet around! I ended up putting aside about 5 pair of my own shoes today to give to Goodwill. I also took a few light-weight jackets and 3 pairs of shoes to my bedroom since I won't wear them until summer again. That freed up some space to put other shoes in the shoe boxes and off the floor.

On the floor now is a box full of winter gloves & hats (because I still haven't found a great way to store them). We have a little shelf built into the wall on the right-hand side of the closet where I had stuffed them before but, we have so many they would spill out onto the floor and get lost in the ever-growing pile of shoes! But, the shelves were just big enough I could put my daughter's shoes in there - works perfectly!

Still not the greatest organization but here it is:

That's all the organizing I did thanks to Pinterest. But, I also did some holiday cooking from a recipe I found there - Overnight French Toast. Total carb overload but boy was it good! It's probably the reason I did so much organizing today! :)

Fashion Designer in the family?

This has been a very good homeschool week. The kids have been cooperative and we've all been able to get a lot accomplished! Joshua is keeping up with his work so well that I've added two new subjects to his curriculum. He will now be learning Spanish (something we've tried to do several times over the years!) and is working through a workbook called "Man on Demand!"

Celeste has shown some amazing talent this week (and has given me another reason to take pictures!). When I was watching Project Runway one night (yes, I watch PR) she sat and watched it with me and ended up sketching her first outfits! Check this out:

This is a dress with circles and a flower on the shoulder.

This is a skirt she drew

This is an outline of a dress that Celeste colored

This is another outline of a dress that she colored

After the Project Runway fun, our subject in school the next day was Art. We had been reading the book "Lentil" about a little boy who plays the harmonica and saves the day. During our art lesson we learned about using charcoal and how it can be used to make shadows on photos. Celeste used the profile of Lentil on one of the books' pages and drew this picture:

And, no, that isn't a booger...it's shading (the pic in the book had it, too!).

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Literature: Elements of a Good Story

The Three Princesses and One Prince. By: Celeste Endo

Once upon a time in a pile of butterflies and rainbow colored flowers there were three teenage princesses. When they came there all the butterflies were scared until they realized the girls were their friends. The girls names were Marissa, Miss Cena and the other girl was named Lia. They were wearing snow dresses and they had on a necklace that had a crystal on it. Their bracelets had crystals and diamonds on them. The crystal was the charm.


There was a prince coming there named Lucino. Lucino was also a teenager and he wore red pants, a blue shirt with crystals on it and a shield in his hand. He visited the princesses so he could have a picnic with them.


The princess ran to their house holding their dresses off the ground like Cinderella to get ready for a picnic. They went up in their bedroom to get dressed in something else so they wouldn't get their dresses dirty. They got napkins and food and were all done.


So the princesses went back to Lucino and had a picnic with the prince. While they were at their picnic doggies came and licked their faces. So, the princesses decided to get some dog food and water. When they finished their picnic they went to play golf.


They go to play golf and Lucino tries to make a hole in one but he couldn't. He tried really, really hard and couldn't do it. But the princesses got golf balls and hit it hard and all of them got a hole in one at once! When the owners of the golf course saw they got a hole in one they gave the princesses one Barbie each.


The End

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Our blog

This year I plan on sharing some of the adventures we have in homeschool. Joshua is 11 and in the 6th grade and Celeste is 4 and is starting homeschool this year.

Joshua is using Alpha & Omega's Switched on Schoolhouse program for the majority of his subjects. This is a computer-based program. However, he is continuing on a path with Saxon Math since we have used this program since first grade. One of the electives he will be taking this year is a math-based money management type of program. He will learn about saving money, investing in money, following stocks, etc. Since Joshua has been earning money as a dog sitter I felt these would be good lessons for him to learn.

Celeste is following the "Five in a Row" program. This program requires you to read the same book to a child for five days in a row and each day they learn about a school subject based on the book. For instance, the first book we are reading is called "The Story About Ping" and today's lesson was an art lesson. Below is the picture Celeste drew based on the picture of a sunset in the book.

Yesterday Celeste learned about fictional stories and had to make up one of her own. I'd like to share her story here:

Once upon a time there was a little girl named Camema. She was playing a harmonica. When she was walking around with the harmonica she knew she would be lonely without her parents and her brother. So, she ran to her home and her house was colored red and blue stripes with a pink fence. Her friend was with her so she wasn't so lonely. Her friend's name was Miss Colleeen.


She went in the store and played her harmonica and the other girl played her guitar. There were actually three of them and the third girls name was Miss Lina. Miss Lina was playing her drums. All of them made a great sound. All the other people in the store were playing their instruments, too. And all the people in the world were playing their music, too. And everybody was happy except for old grumpy.


A unicorn was dancing and everyone joined them on the stage dancing except for old grumpy.


Finally, she was at her house and her mother, father, brother and cousins were really happy she was home for her birthday. The cake was red, blue and pink and had a chocolate unicorn on it. They dressed up beautifully as Cinderella, Belle, and Sleeping Beauty and played "Princess." There was a prince, too, and her brother was the prince. The prince had a golden shield, a red shirt and red pants.


There was a little puppy named Lacimo and Lacimo came up in her bedroom when she was playing "Princess."


There was a big surprise for her birthday and she got a unicorn and told her parents and cousins to bow down to her and they did. When they bowed down, the unicorn was stuck in the box (you could see it's horn sticking out of the box). They opened the box and she was surprised and screamed "Ahhh!"


Her parents let the unicorn stay there whenever she wanted it to. The unicorn did whatever she wanted. And that's what they did on Cemema's birthday.


The End

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